at the end of the day when the first reports came in that indicated that we had an attack going on at our diplomatic facility in benghazi. in that facility we knew we had our ambassador and we had his security personnel. later, when i heard that the situation had evolved to them going to a safe haven and then the fact we could not find the ambassador, i alerted my leadership indicating that we needed to go forward and consider the deployment of the foreign emergency support team. that particular team is an interagency team. it's been represented as something that the state department deploys. it does not -- the deputies committee of the national security council deploys that

organization. but i wanted that considered. i notified the white house of my idea. they indicated that meetings had already taken place that evening that had taken fest out of the me menu of options. i called the office within the state department that had been represented there asking them why it had been taken off the table and was told that it was not the right time and it was not the team that needed to go right then. let me explain the team a little more. it is comprised oflt leadership of my office, comprised of oermttives from diplomatic security, from intelligence community, from fbi. it is a wholistic comprehensive organization that is designed to go forward to embassies just as we did as indicated in 1998 in

east africa as we've done in the other places indicated the u.s.s. coal and other hostage situations. it is designed to be the glue and connective tissue that gets all the options on the table for the decision makers. decision makers in my line of work are the chief of mission and the authorities back here in washington that make the decisions where we send people into harm's way. it doesn't mean it has a irreversibility to it. the other thing i pointed out was with the tyranny of distance, at least eight or nine hours to get to the middle of the mediterranean, we needed to act now and not wait. there is sometimes the hesitancy to not deploy because we don't know what's going on. one definition of a crisis is

you don't know what's going to happen in two hours. so you need to help develop that situation early. we have a robust ably on our so com colleagues and it's on alert to do just this mission and designed to carry a comprehensive team to a crisis and to help the ambassador and work for the ambassador and/or the chief of mission to handle that crisis and to make sure he or she has the best information possible to make decisions and make recommendations back to washington. and those same representatives make their views known back to their parent organizations so that when we do have deputies committees and principle committees meetings at the white house, we have a situation in which everyone is using the most

up-to-date information and so that we can figure out what we have to do security wise, what we have to do intelligence wise, what we have to do with the military, what we have to do diplomatic wise, what we have to do on the public affairs front. that works for the chief of mission and i can't emphasize that enough. we're not there to subsume any activities. the experts on the team know that the real experts are in the embassy and they work for the chief of mission to do that. my time is drawing to a close. i'll end there and await your questions. >> thank you, mr. hicks. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> we really have to hear, you're a little soft spoken. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking members of the committee, i am a career public servant. until the aftermath of benghazi, i loved every day of my job.

in my 21 years of government service prior to tripoli, i earned a reputation for being an innovative policymaker who got the job done. i was promoted quickly and received numerous awards. people who worked for me rated my leadership and management skills highly. i have two masters degrees from the university of michigan in applied economics and modern eastern and north african studies. i have served my country extensively in the mideast. besides libya, afghanistan, bahrain, yemen, syria and gambia. i speak fluent arabic. gave me advanced warning on our attacks at the embassy and

anti-american agencies. i learned that knowledge of local conditions and strong connections with the local population are as important as the strength and height of walls. one reason i am here is because i have pledged to the foreign service as part of my campaign to be state vice president of the american foreign service association that none of us should ever again experience what we went through in tripoli and benghazi on 9/11/2012. after i arrived in tripoli as deputy chief of mission on july 31st, 2012, i fast became known as the ambassador's bulldog because of my decisive management style. in the days immediately after the benghazi attack, the president and secretary of state praised my performance over the telephone. president obama wrote libyan president expressing confidence in my abilities. deputy secretary burns and

general ham told me how much they appreciated how i handled the night of the assault and its aftermath. i received written notes of commendation from wendy sureman and executive secretary, incoming lar jay larry pope told me my performance was near heroic. in february 1991 i swore an oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the united states. i'm here today to honor that oath. i look forward to answering your questions fully and truthfully. thank you very much. >> thank you. i understand that some of those commendations and letters are in your opening statement. and for all the witnesses, all extraneous material or other insertions will be placed in the record on your behalf. mr. nordstrom.

>> good morning, chairman issa and other distinguished members of the committee. for the benefit of the new committee members, my name is eric nordstrom and serve as superviz ri special agent with the u.s. department states bureau of diplomatic security. since september 2012 i've been enrolled in long-term language training in preparation for my next assignment. as chairman issa noted i've served in federal law enforcement since january 1996 first as a customs inspector before joining the u.s. department of state. i've served in domestic and overseas postings including washington, d.c., honduras, ethiopia, india and most recently the regional security officer at the u.s. embassy in tripoli. all of those assignments have been assignments in which i faced the threat of criminal or terrorist attacks. i held the last position from

september 21, 201 until july 26, 2012. as the regional security officer or rso at the u.s. embassy in tripoli, i served to u.s. ambassadors eugene krets and chris stevens. i want to thank the opportunity again to have the ability to appear and provide support to the tragic events of september 11, 2012. and also thank the committee for your continued efforts in investigating all the details and all the decisions related to the attack on our diplomatic facility. specifically, the committee's labors to uncover what happened prior, during and after the attack matter. it matters to me personally. and it matters to my colleagu colleagues -- to my colleagues at department of state.

it matters to the american public for whom we serve. and most importantly -- excuse me. it matters to the friends and family of ambassador stevens, sean smith, glenn doherty and tyrone woods, who were murdered on september 11, 2012. in addition to my testimony before this committee in october 2012, i also met with the fbi, senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee. the department's accountability review board and i've discussed my experience in libya with all of them. i'm proud of the work that our team accomplished in libya under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, the projection of our nation's diplomats and the work produced there is deserving of the time this committee,

other congressional committees and the accountability review board and no doubt future review efforts will invest in making sure we get this process right. thank you, mr. chairman and members of the committee to appear before you today. i stand ready to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you. i'll now recognize myself for a quick round of questioning. mr. thompson -- mr. thompson, you went through a process of things that you observed and how you tried to activate your team. did you do so because you had an initial view of whether this was a terrorist attack or something else? and please be brief. i want to use my time. >> yes. >> okay. thank you. mr. hicks, as the principle officer and once the ambassador

had been murdered, the highest ranking officer on september 11th from the moment that you unexpectedly became the -- america has heard many accounts of what happened. we've never heard accounts from a single person who was in libya that night. you will be the first person who observed it. in your own words, take as much time as you want, please take us through the day of september 11th from whatever time you want to begin through when you first heard from ambassador stevens and through the hours and days immediately following that if you would so we can have an understanding for the first time from somebody who was there. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as i remember september 11,

2012, it was a routine day at our embassy. and until we saw the news about cai cairo. and i remember sending a text message to ambassador stevens saying, chris, are you aware of what's going on in cairo? and he said, no. so i told him that the embassy in another text that the embassy had been stormed and they were trying to tear down our flag. and he said thanks very much. and then i went on with business. closed the day and i went back to my villa and was relaxing watching a television show that i particularly like. and at 9:45 p.m. -- and all times will be libyan times, a

six-hour time difference, the rso ran into my villa yelling, greg, greg, the consulate's under attack. and i stood up and reached for my phone because i had an inkling or thought perhaps the ambassador tried to call me to relay the same message. and i found two missed calls on the phone. one from the ambassador's phone, one from a phone number i didn't recognize. and i punched the phone number i didn't recognize and i got the ambassador on the other end. and he said, greg, we're under attack. and i was walking out of the villa on my way to the tactical operations center because i knew we would all have to gather there to mobilize -- or try to mobilize a response. and it was also a bad cell phone night in tripoli. connections were weak.

and i said okay. and the line cut. as i walked to the tactical operations center, i tried to reach back on both of the numbers, the unknown number and the ambassador's personal number and got no response. when i got to the tactical operations center, i told people that the ambassador -- that i had just talked to the ambassador and what he said at the time john mart neck was on the phone with alec henderson in benghazi, the rso there, and i asked one of our ds agents what number did i reach ambassador stevens on. and he said, oh, that's scott wickland's telephone. he was his agent in charge, his personal escort for that night and was with him in the villa during the attack.

so i asked -- when john got off the telephone, i asked him what was going on and he said that the consulate had been breached and at least 20 hostile individualed armed in the compound at the time. so i next called the annex chief to ask him if he was in touch with the benghazi annex to activate -- >> please explain the annex chief so people who don't know as much would understand that. no, go ahead, please. >> okay. thank you. and he said he had been in touch with the annex in benghazi and they said they were mobilizing a response team there to go to

repel the attack. >> we're listening to gregory hicks. he was the deputy chief of mission, the number two diplomat at the u.s. embassy in tripoli, libya, when he got that phone call from then-ambassador chris stevens saying the consulate in benghazi is under attack. and he's explaining what he was going through. we're going to be picking up this story shortly. i want to bring in jake tapper though. he's here in washington with me listening very carefully. this is a politically explosively charged hearing that's underway right now because the upshot of what the chairman, daryl issa and other republicans are suggesting, is simply, a, that the obama administration was inept in dealing with this crisis on the anniversary of 9/11 and later potentially the accusation they're making him engage in a cover-up to make them look better. >> that's right, wolf. but if you strip away the

politics, what you have here is a number of state department officials nonpartisan, presumably, mr. hicks being one, eric nordstrom who was the regional security officer at the embassy in tripoli in summer 2012 and mr. thompson from the counterterrorism department of the state department talking about the failures to provide enough security to diplomats in libya before the attack, questions about whether or not more could have been done that night. there were actually two attacks, one at the compound in benghazi the night of september 11th. the next one early in the morning at the annex a couple miles away. and then of course there's how did the white house respond to this when it became clear that this was a terrorist attack, these officials saying they knew it immediately. the white house pushed back on that suggested this was a spontaneous protest as a result of that anti-muslim video. there are a lot of questions, but if you strip away the partisan veneer of all of this, and the fact that there is so much partisan politics going on

here on both sides, there really are fundamentally some serious questions from some nonpartisan diplomats about this event. >> and gregory hicks, career foreign service officer, a career diplomat, not a politically appointed diplomat, but a career diplomat making some serious allegations right there. christiane amanpour is watching what's going on. christiane, i guess the major argument that many of these republicans are making is that this notion that this was immediately seen as a coordinated terrorist operation probably are links to al qaeda, that did not fit the obama administration's narrative at the time. this was in the final weeks of the presidential election. and that's why they decided to supposedly clean it up. and that's a pretty serious charge. >> here's the thing, wolf, you know, i'm not in washington dealing with the politics of this. and as you've just discussed it is a very partisan issue, but there are facts that also need to be taken to grip. that is the consistent narrative

from libya, from the officials in libya starting with the president of the national congress, mohamed mogarif and the justice minister today and intelligence officials, they from the very beginning when asked said they believe this was a pre-planned terrorist attack on a competing network on cbs september 16th the president of libya was in new york for the general assembly meetings. and he said that dozens had been arrested since the attack five days previously and he believed they'd been planning -- they'd been in the country for months planning what he called a criminal attack. and furthermore he said that he and his intelligence had information that some of them were from algeria and mali. and now this long-predated what became al qaeda in the islamic ma greb and then in january of this year the big attack and

siege of the gas facility in southern algeria. so he was prestaging something that then we all knew about several months later. and i've interviewed many of the libyan officials, prime ministers that said the justice minister and they all agree on one point, and that is they do not have the security inside their country right now, that it is becoming a place where these foreign jihadists are gathering as they're being pushed out of other areas and this security vacuum and the political vacuum in libya is expanding. and libyan intelligence sources are saying they are quickly becoming the new base for al qaeda in the islamic magreb. so this is a very serious issue and a serious problem going forward. >> it certainly is. it's really, really critical right now what's happening in libya and throughout north africa and the middle east.

arwa damon is in beirut. you were in benghazi. you were there on the scene within a few days of the killing of ambassador stevens and the three other americans. we all remember you found together with your team over there found ambassador stevens' diary. just remind our viewers what you saw there. because based on everything i remember talking to you at the time, it was pretty clear to you this was a sophisticated attack. it wasn't some sort of spontaneous demonstration that occurred similar to what occurred at the u.s. embassy in cairo. >> that's right, wolf. pretty much everyone who we spoke to on the scene from security guards, libyan security guards to other individuals who happen to be at the consulate compound during the attack all said that it happened instantly and happened simultaneously from multiple different directions. there was no doubt in their mind that this was some sort of a

coordinated complex attack. when we arrived on scene, of course, the consulate was burnt. it had been largely looted. it wasn't secured as a crime scene. we were able to spend a few hours on the ground there finding of course as you mentioned the ambassador's diary that was lying close to his bed along with other sensitive items as well. and journalists even days and weeks later were able to access the compound and also come up with other sensitive items. it took the fbi weeks to arrive on site and do whatever they could to salvage bits of information. it's also important to look back at the landscape of libya prior to this attack taking place. the consulate had already been attacked in the past. there had been numerous attacks against various other western interests. and libyan officials who we spoke to whether on the government side or on the libyan security forces side were telling us that in the days before the attacks they were warning the americans that they

could not provide the necessary security and they believed although they did not have a specific timeframe that such an attack on the consulate was imminent. and we also now know of course throughout our reporting that ambassador stevens himself was incredibly concerned about the lack of security at the consulate in benghazi, wolf. >> arwa, standby. dana bash is our chief con grengsal correspondent. she's been covering this story since september 11th of last year when it exploded with the tragic death of the u.s. ambassador and three other americans. within days, dana, i remember vividly i think the next day i interviewed mike rogers, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, and we both sort of agreed that without knowing exactly what happened coming on the anniversary of 9/11 this certainly looked like it was a coordinated attack by an al qaeda affiliate or an al qaeda supporter, if you will. but then within a few days the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice, was on five sunday talk shows as you all

remember saying this was a spontaneous attack based on everything she knew. and the talking points, declassified talking points gave her those talking points what to say to the american public. that's generated so much commotion and the cause of these hearings, i suspect at least in part. >> absolutely. daryl issa said he didn't think they would delve too much into the talking points, who changed them and why, but it's hard to imagine that won't be at least part of the undercurrent in what's going to be happening here because that goes to the heart of what republicans have been asking about, pressing about, from the get-go. which is they believe that whether it was explicit or implicit, this is part of the culture that had to do with the president's campaign making the point he crippled al qaeda by killing osama bin laden and that anything internationally or anywhere else that would suggest

al qaeda was still active and still very strong could undermine that. there's no question that is going to be part of this. right now i should say gregory hicks is still giving his opening statement and account narrative for the first time from somebody who was on the ground. he was in tripoli, he wasn't in benghazi, but explaining minute-by-minute effectively of what happened that night. so that's what we're hearing right now. the q & a is going to start. i should also say the republicans have been telling us there are some surprises in here. one republican on the committee said it could even be explosive what we hear. they're raising expectations that there really is going to be a lot more meat on this bone. we'll have to wait and see if they follow through with that. >> we're going to of course continue to monitor throughout the day. the hearings can go on for hours and hours. jake, you want to make one more point. >> greg hicks said in his interview with congressional investigators that when he watched dr. susan rice talk to

sunday shows, the sunday after the attack and talk about how this was in the view of the white house a spontaneous attack from -- that resulted from a demonstration -- >> because of a youtube video. >> yeah. the anti-muslim youtube video, he said his jaw dropped because what she was doing in his view was undercutting the president of libya christiane and others referring to saying this was terrorism right off the bat. and he thought that was a violation of diplomacy 101, you don't undercut in which the country you serve. >> all right. we're going to continue to monitor this important hearing on capitol hill. we'll get back to it. we're also watching what's going on in cleveland right now. just a little while ago amanda berry, one of the three women who escaped from a cleveland house after a decade in captivity, she finally has returned to her home. three brothers are accused of holding them. they will be charged today. we're going to cleveland when we come back. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm.

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three ohio women held captive for a decade or so are reuniting with their family and friends today. amanda berry, she has now returned to her home within the past hour. and just a few minutes after she arrived her sister made a statement to the public and the media requesting privacy for the family. listen to this. >> everybody down. >> beth. >> happy to have amanda and her daughter home. i want to thank the public and

the media for their support and encouragement over the years. and at this time our family would request privacy. so my sister and niece and i can have time to recover. we appreciate all you have done for us throughout the past ten years. please respect our privacy until we are ready to make our statements. and thank you. >> the statement from the sister of amanda. the three suspects in the case, they are being questioned by federal authorities. they will be charged later today. pedro, ar yell and castro brothers. they held three girls inside air yell castro's home. her young daughter born in captivity, she's six years old. the police chief says authorities have found ropes and chains inside ariel castro's home. officials believe they were used to restrain the three women.

they say no human remains were found. cnn has learned that ariel castro was accused in 2005 of beating his then-wife. court documents say his wife suffered several significant injuries including a blood clot on her brain. documents also say castro repeatedly threatened to kill her and her daughter. the neighbor who helped the three women escape by knocking down the suspect's door gave an exclusive interview. charles ramsey recounted the ordeal to anderson cooper in detail. listen to this. >> you moved in about a year ago. you'd seen ariel castro around, right? >> when i moved here only because he was my neighbor, you know what i mean? >> right. what was he like? >> cool. he wasn't no freak of nature. he was like me and you because he talked about the same thing you talk about. he talk about you. you know what i mean? regular stuff, bro. >> so yesterday, what happened?

>> you'll love this. i'm going to tell it all. around 3:00 i was on my porch. and the mailman put his mail in my mail. i've lived here i get ariel's mail when he come home, couple minutes later he pulled up, grabbed the mail, i go, ariel, here go your mail. same conversation when i handed him the mail. can't get it right. i said, nope. that's it. he left. i jumped on my bike, went to mcdonald's. came back home. i'm in my house, but i'm in the living room and i'm right by the front door, i'm looking out the front door. and, man, this girl screamed like a car had hit a kid, which made me stop eating, what was that? so when i got up i saw my neighbor across the street. he'd run across the street. and i'm thinking where are you

going? i just saw ariel leave and i know nobody there. i heard that girl scream and saw him run across the street and ran outside wondered what he was doing. and amanda say i'm stuck in here. help get me out. guy don't know english that well and panicked. here i come with my half eaten big mac and i look and say what's up. and she's like i've been trapped in here. he won't let me out. me and my baby. i said you ain't got to talk no more. come on. i'm trying to get the door open and can't. torture chamber it some kind of way lock it up, right. so i did what i had to do to kick the bottom of the door and she crawled out. she grabs her baby. which threw me off. all right. fine. i got some girl, her kid. >> what did she look like? what was she wearing? >> jumpsuit.

she had a white tank top on, rings on, she was well-groomed. she didn't look like she was kidnapped, that's what i'm saying. that's what threw me off she's like i'm in here trapped. so maybe having boyfriend problem. but i'm thinking i know who lives here and he 50 something. you can't be the boyfriend problem. can't be him. maybe you're dating his son. >> you'd never seen her before? >> bro. >> in the year that you'd been there? >> bro, man, listen. never. that woman didn't come out the house. the only kids that came out the house were two little girls. they played in the backyard. he had two dogs. and where i live naturally is next door, my bedroom is upstairs. so i just look here's kids playing i know it's them. they do the same thing, play in the backyard for a couple hours, go back in the house. same thing every day. the neighborhood knows them as his grandchildren. so no big deal.

has his grand kids over all the time. i thought. >> amanda berry then asked to call 9-1-1? >> uh-huh. and i took her to my house. now, i'm nervous as hell so i'm fumbling with my phone. so i finally get it right. she can't wait. i don't blame her. what i do is tell her go across the street and use their phone. now we're both calling 9-1-1. now, she gets through and i get through. she deal with a moron, me too. >> what do you mean moron? >> imbocil. >> hang up and wait for the police. >> how about stay home and talk to me until they get there. >> charles ramsey certainly a hero in helping free these three women who had been held for about a decade, speaking to anderson cooper. ramsey by the way says he's not

interested in any reward money. he says it should go to the victims. coming up, we're going to go live to our own poppy harlow in cleveland right now. she's heading to the home of gina dejesus. she was reported missing when she was only 14 years old. now she's 23. that's her home. she's heading there. so are we right after this. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ (announcenergy cycle... natural cats. they were born to play. to eat. then rest. to fuel the metabolic cycle they were born to have, purina one created new healthy metabolism wet and dry.

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one of the three women held captive for a decade inside a cleveland, ohio, house is now back home. amanda berry, she reunited with her family in the last hour. another of those three women, gina dejesus, is also on her way home. poppy harlow is joining us on the phone. these are emotional arrivals. what do you know? >> incredibly emotional. i was outside this home where amanda just came home within the past hour as we've been showing our viewers. we do not know if gina dejesus

maybe going back to her house, we do not know that at this time. the family has been asking for privacy and to let them get through this and to be together as a family. but we heard that statement from amanda berry's sister, beth serrano, saying we are so happy amanda and her daughter are home. she thanks the public and media for their support and requested privacy. we're told we are not going to hear from amanda berry, at least not today, wolf. i did have a chance to speak with some neighbors. there's been well to 150 to 200 people gathered outside, friends, family, to support amanda berry and her family. i spoke to some neighbors and one said this is just such an ecstatic and exciting day for us. we've been waiting for this, hoping for this. another two people that live nearby said it's just incredible, frankly, that they did not think that this day was going to come. it had been ten years. they did not think amanda berry

was going to make it home. and indeed today they were there standing there watching as she did. so a very big day for this entire community. her name known all around cleveland for years and years. interesting color for you wolf, i don't know what pictures we're showing for you right now, but this sign with amanda berry's picture on it on the front of the home, that has been up there for years and years as they've been holding up hope for her safe return. a yellow ribbon tied around the tree in front of the home for years and years as well for her. and it is still there today and was there to greet her when she came home. >> what an emotional moment that was. we are so happy for the families of all three of these young women who have now been freed. poppy, you had a chance to speak with the father of ariel castro's ex-wife, the owner of that home where allegedly these women were held for a decade. what did he say? >> we did.

it was my producer who spoke with him in spanish because he does not speak english. i was there. and she translated it for us. this is the father of gromalda we're told at one point married to ariel castro. but these court papers have been coming out, court papers showing a complaint by her of physical abuse. now, these were eventually dropped or dismissed. and it's not exactly clear why that happened, but there was detail about abuses she suffered. so we wanted to talk to her family because she has since passed away. and the father of grimalda told us that ariel castro used to beat up his daughter, beat up -- beat her up. he said that castro once threw her down the stairs and that her arm was broken. he also talked about a head injury that she sustained as a result of castro's physical

abuse. the way that this father described castro, wolf, is as a violent man. so i think, you know, that sheds a little bit more light on this. also interesting, apparently the father and his wife used to share a home with castro and figero when they were married and castro would not allow him to come up to the second floor apartment. he also said when they moved to the home on seymour avenue, the house where the three girls were found, he said castro would not let any of the family members go inside the home or even go inside the front door, which is very suspicious, very questionable. but, again, we're hearing this from the father of grimaldo who we are told married at one time and then divorced from ariel castro. >> we're getting a lot more information on these three suspects, ariel castro, pedro

castro and onil castro. much more importantly we're learning more about these three women who have now been freed, amanda berry, gina dejesus and michelle knight. let's get more on one-on-one with the man who helped rescue amanda berry. >> how quickly did police get there? >> they got there so fast because i said moron. i said, hey, amanda berry is right in front of me right now. what she got on, i said white tank top, blue pants, nice tennis shoes, ponytail, oh, right, she's panicking, idiot. put yourself in her shoes. i just said amanda berry. that don't ring no bells you being a cop and all. >> when you first saw her and said the name amanda berry, it didn't register? >> no. i forgot.

this is cleveland, since they haven't found that girl and stopped looking for that girl, we figure that had girl met her demi demise. so didn't register until i thought, wait a minute, i thought this girl was dead. wh >> what is it to feel like you've been living next to this for a year. >> see, that's why i'm now having trouble sleeping. up until yesterday the only thing that kept me from losing sleep was the lack of money. see what i'm saying? >> uh-huh. >> so now that that's going on and i could have done this last year, not this hero stuff, is do the right thing. >> do you feel like a hero? >> no. no. no. no. bro. i'm a christian, and american, just like you. we bleed the same blood. put our pants on the same way. it's just that you got to put

that being a coward -- and i don't want to get in nobody's business, you got to put that away for a minute. >> a lot of people turn the other way. people walking down the street. >> that's what it's all about. it's about the homeless on this planet. >> has the fbi said anything about a reward or anything? there was a reward for finding her and stuff. >> i tell you what to do, give it to them. if folks been following this case since last night and been following me since last night, you know i got a job anyway. just went and picked it up, paycheck. what does that address say? >> i don't have my glasses. >> them girls live right next door to this paycheck. so, yeah, take that reward and give it -- that little girl came out the house and she was crying and i'm looking at her like your mama trying to help you, shut up. i don't know, right.

she's like i want my daddy. and i said who's your daddy and she said ariel. >> she said that? >> i said yeah, how is that possible, you got kidnapped, he was having sex with you, oh, jesus, that little girl is his. now we want to hurt you. >> you felt that? >> brother, this would be a different interview. i told you that if we had known that, man, i would be facing triple life. >> wow. i'm glad it turned out this way. >> we're all glad it turned out this way. besides whatever law enforcement reward charles ramsey may get, donations also are pouring in online by all accounts, charles ramsey a very, very good samaritan, thanks from all of our viewers for what you did. so how did this go on for so many years with so many people and police so close by? coming up, we're taking a closer look at the punishments that might be handed out in this

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the three suspects who allegedly held three ohio women captive for nearly a decade, they are expected to be charged today. let's bring in defense attorney cnn legal analyst joey jackson for his take on this really, really extraordinary very bizarre case. walk us through, joey, what we can anticipate today. >> sure. you know, what a human interest story, wolf. the emotions the family must be going through. but i think what will happen is we're going to see a criminal complaint filed. there's a couple stages in the criminal process, multiple stages actually, and with the criminal complaint that's where you'll see the charges leveled against them. and i think there will be a wide variety of charges from conspiracy dealing with the agreement that all of them would have had to have engaged in for criminality. there will be issues of aiding and abetting. certainly we'll see the kidnapping charge, we could see a false imprisonment charge, charges stemming from rape or any sexual abuse. and although those charges are

on a criminal complaint, i would fully expect some point in the near future for a grand jury to get the case and certainly amend those charges in any way based upon the investigation and what's uncovered as a result. >> i assume that law enforcement has given these three suspects their miranda rights including the right to remain silent and right to an attorney unless they've cited that public safety exception. what's your sense? >> you know, it's generally speaking it's sort of protocol for law enforcement once they take you and to read you those rights, you have a right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you. certainly if they did that the suspects will be aware that they have the right to remain silent but certainly they could give any statement anyway. they may want to be inclined to give statements based upon any leverage they may think they have in negotiating, but it will be interesting to know, wolf. because i think without statements or with statements i certainly think it's a tough case they would have. we're talking about ten years of captivity. and certainly, you know, maybe

you could argue that one's cu culpab culpability, but after ten years all of them equally the prosecution's going to argue they're all culpable, so whether they gave statement, prior to miranda, admissible or not, i think law enforcement and the prosecution has ample evidence regardless of their self-in crimination to move forward with a successful prosecution here. >> i assume these guys probably don't have any money so public defenders, lawyers, will be made available to them at taxpayers expense, right? >> that generally is how it works. of course with our system because you do have that right to remain silent and of course coming with that right is the right to counsel if you can't afford one, then a public defender is generally appointed to assess the case, evaluate the case and to take you through all those critical stages. now, of course, i believe the lawyers who are involved here it will be a lot of discovery in terms of information that will be turned over by the prosecution. that would emanate, wolf, from any investigation they do, any forensic analysis, any computer

analysis. so there will be a lot to sift and go through. but be clear here, these are very serious charges that carry life sentences as to all of these defendants. so irrespective of who the lawyers are, they're going to private counsel or public defender, they're going to have a long road ahead of them with regard to being prepared, ready to successfully defend the charges that these three face. >> and i know that law enforcement and the prosecutors, they have a delicate line to walk in asking questions of the three young women who have just been rescued because you don't want them to relive the trauma immediately. on the other hand, you want to get information. how did they walk that line? >> interestingly enough, wolf, you said it. it's a very delicate one because on the one hand certainly you want to respect their rights of these victims. and, you know, listen, they've been through emotional trauma i'm sure, psychological trauma, physical trauma could be significant depending upon all the sexual abuse that they may have faced in these years of captivity. but i think you have very

experienced professionals who know how to draw out information and do it in an appropriate way and one that respects their rights. but also, wolf, i think these victims here are committed to the notion of justice. you have to be, i mean, if you're in captivity against your will. and certainly i think they're going to be after justice. to that extent i think we'll see their full cooperation and see the information that they need gotten out of them by these investigators. >> excellent analysis from joey jackson. joey, thanks very much. we'll check back with you later. we'll take a quick break. head back to cleveland right after this.

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this is the pictures coming in from cleveland. this outside the home of gina dejesus. she was reported missing at the age of 14. she's now 23. we hope she's on her way home. you see all the flowers, the media camped out. families of the three women held captive have been suffering ten years not knowing the fate of their loved ones. now they're celebrating their safe return and try to make up for lost time. amanda berry talked to her grandmother yesterday. it was a very emotional conversation. listen to this. >> hello? >> amanda. >> yeah, grandma. >> how are you? >> i'm fine. >> i'm glad to have you back. >> it's good to be back.

>> i thought you were gone. >> nope, i'm here. >> we're happy and here for you. >> thank you so much. i miss you and love you guys so much. >> the little girl is your baby? >> yeah. she's my daughter. born on christmas. >> we got to get together soon. >> i know it. >> but i love you, honey. thank god. >> i love you too. >> i thought about you all the time. i never forgot you. >> today, amanda berry's sister thanked the public and media but asked for privacy during these difficult times. that's it for me this hour. see you back here at 5:00 p.m. in "the situation room." "cnn newsroom" continues right now with ashleigh banfield reporting from phoenix. ashleigh. >> wolf, thank you so much. in our live story that just continues to unfold with remarkable details comes to us in cleveland, ohio, where right now we may see somewhat of a